Defense Budget

The Globe and Mail is reporting that, after increasing the defense budget from 14 to 21 billion since taking power, the Conservatives are planning to reduce spending increases.

Obviously, this all makes sense. Spending 21 billion dollars on the military is never a good idea, especially when the government is running a deficit.

Nevertheless, despite increasing the budget by 7 billion dollars, the Conservatives haven't been able to plug some gaping holes in our military. Why? Partly because military equipment is hugely expensive. But mostly because they've spent on the wrong things.

First of all: Afghanistan. The vast majority of our spending increase can be put down to our increased commitment in Afghanistan. The government is right to supply its soldiers with the equipment they need, but given the lack of progress that we have made, we'll have to accept that our involvement in Afghanistan was a mistake. In other words, money down the drain.

Then we have those new C-17 Glomasters, that are used for long distance troop transport. They're certainly being used, and they allowed Canada to respons to the Haiti crisis efficiently, without having to rent foreign planes. But here's the itch: they also cost us $3 billion dollars. For three billion dollars, we could supply every hospital in the country with as many additional MRI machines as they need, bring in a few more hundred doctors to operate them, and still have money left over to rent planes from the americans. This may be a simplictic example, but the point remains: three billion dollars goes a very, very long way.

And now to the holes. First: iceberakers. You see, although we can now fly our troops to Haiti and Afghanistan without renting a foreign plane, we can't navigate our own arctic waters in the winter months. Harper promised to buy 6 to 8 icebreakers (at a cost of 3 billion dollars, by the way), but even though he claims to see the North as a key part of his legacy, he still hasn't come through. Maybe he plans to let US and Russian submarines do the job for us?

And here's the other hole: search and rescue planes. Although we can airlift soldiers caught injured in the plains of Afghanistan, we might't be able to do the same, say, in the Yukon. According to the Globe and Mail, the government is being told that the current fleet of Buffaloes and Hercules planes may not be up to the job for much longer...